Yogis

Did you know people who do yoga are called yogis?! I was thinking they would be called yoga-ers but apparently not. I did yoga for like a week or two when I was in high school and trying to be more flexible but then I lost interest. But guess what?! Jillian came out with a Yoga workout video! And of course in Jillian fashion, it rocks. We found it at Costco last week and I was pretty darn excited. We were out with my parents shopping and getting dinner when I saw it and HAD to have it. I did the workout with Thomas and we were both sweating. It's nice to do on a day that you don't have to work out but you want to get some kind of workout in. I don't know about you all but I always feel guilty about not running or working out even if it's supposed to be a rest day. So this is a nice one cause you still get in a good workout but it's not pounding on your joints and allows them to rest a bit. I don't think I'll ever be a yogi but I would consider myself converted to Jillian's workouts. Does that make me a Jillian-er or a Jillian-ie?

Blah-blog

Our fellow running friends

The BEST running buddy EVER!

A much needed blog. I've taken awhile to blog for a couple of reasons, okay maybe only two. Work has been totally blah lately and I've felt blah too. I haven't even blogged about the half marathon. That's cause I've felt blah about the results of it and embarrassed about it a little too. The work drama isn't really even worth blogging about. I'll just say I'm glad that I'm done in about six weeks. I'll miss the kids but not the drama from working around all women. Work is so much better when you really like the people that you are working with. I was just telling a friend the other day how my sophomore year of college I woke up at 4am to wash toilets in the gym bathrooms on campus and that was even bearable because I worked with another girl who was so much fun. So really any kind of work can be fun if you are working with the right people. Before I get a teaching job I for sure want to look into the people who I will be working alongside i.e. principal and other teachers.

So the half… (sigh) The trip up to Wenatchee was way fun. There were four of us girls going. Danna, Kasey, Haley, and I. We rode up in Haley's car and our husbands all came up later that night after work. We all agreed that it helped a lot to get our minds off the race by chatting gossiping . We dropped Haley off at Eastmont track where Ike had a meet that she was helping coach. Then we went and checked into the hotel and to packet pick up. It was crazy how many people we saw that we knew. All mainly from church, there were at least five couples up there running that weekend. I actually first heard about the Wenatchee Marathon from a lady from church at one of our BUNKO game nights. We picked Haley up after the meet was over and headed to Olive Garden for some carb loading. After that we went to the grocery store where I made me first mistake, I got a Diet Coke! GASP! I know! How could I?! Well I read in Women's Health Magazine that people who drank caffeine before a workout had like 20% more muscle endurance than those who didn't. So I was like "That's great I'll just drink some diet coke before the race." Stupid, stupid, stupid!" Anyways… that night got a good night's sleep as I had the night before that which I hear is really the night that counts. Before we all headed to bed we were gathered in our hotel room and Alex, Haley's husband, zapped Kasey and Danna's husbands with these electric currents that they use at his work and it would make their muscles contract involuntarily. That was our entertainment for the night. I wish I had a video of it. I'm pretty sure at one point John's middle finger involuntarily went up while he was writhing in pain. Ha-ha. That night I didn't even have running nightmares! I had had them the two nights previous. They usually consist of me getting frustrated because the course is not marked properly and I'm losing time because I'm lost. Or, that I am trying my hardest to run but can't move at all. Well none of that the night before race day.

The morning of the race woke up about 6:30, met Kasey and Haley down in the lobby at about 7:15 and we jogged to the start line which was about a mile down the road (possibly mistake number two, maybe shouldn't have jogged that far). Race started promptly at 8am. My parents were both there at the start cheering us on and they even brought the family dog. (I guess the hotel was pet friendly. Abby (the dog) kept them up all night cause every time somebody passed by in the hall she ran to the door and growled). I felt so good at the beginning of the race and actually that worried me a little bit because normally at the beginning of a run I'm dying. But I was like "what the heck if I feel this good, might as well take advantage of it." Mistake number three. First three miles were 8:28, 8:20, 8:21.

The Start

 I think between the second and third mile I got a stabbing side ache. I NEVER get side aches!!! Luckily Haley taught me a great little trick to get rid of them be breathing really deep when you step down with the foot that the side ache is on. And after a few minutes it went away. But I struggled with them pretty consistently throughout the run (thank you Diet coke). At about mile nine I could just feel that I had zero energy. I have never used GU before so I didn't want to get some at the turn around point, but at mile nine I was wishing that I had. I hadn't ever really felt like I had "hit a wall" until then. It's the weirdest feeling. It's like you can just feel your body searching for any kind of energy it can, but coming up with nothing. And at that point it's totally mental and you just have to push yourself through it. Unfortunately I was mentally weak and just ended up walking a few times and breaking. Inside my head I seriously had like a split personality one was saying "I don't care about getting my goal time, it hurts, I'm walking" and the other was arguing back "Yes you do care! You know you care!" But the first won that argument. GRRRR! It's so frustrating because I know that physically I was able to go under two hours. But mentally I guess I wasn't. The race was a little hillier than I expected. The hills came at us at about mile 4.5 I believe and went till mile 6.5 and then you turn around and experience the ups and downs again. So my time ended up being 2:03:50. My last year's time was 2:03:40 at the Seattle Rock and Roll ½ marathon. So ten seconds slower but hey at least I'm consistent right?! I'm pretty ticked that in the last two miles the guys caring the freaking keg passed me! Lol If that isn't humiliating I don't know what is! Seriously these two guys carried a keg the whole 13.1 miles switching off between them like every 5 minutes. Oh and can you believe that an 11 year old boy ran the half in 1:48! Who runs that much and that fast at 11 years old! Kind of cool but kind of strange as well.

The Finish comming off of the bridge

Okay positive things that came from the race: Well, I know now some things not to do! 1. Drink carbonated beverages 2. Go out fast 3. Avoid the GU station. And next time I'm just going to choose somebody, anybody to stick with for parts of the race so that I've got that motivation. There were a couple times I was thinking "I'll keep up with him/her" but then just gave up. I should have stuck with the kegger boys; they might have had some interesting stories to tell to keep my mind off the pain. And another positive, since I didn't get my goal time I'm running another half marathon at the end of June. I promised myself that I'd get under two hours by the end of the year. I've got a 10K coming up in about a week but I'm not going for a specific time just for a training run and a t-shirtJ

The Good Stuff

Do you watch Biggest Loser? Don't you love it when they do those cheesy advertisements during the show and try to make them look all natural? For example: Bob says: "Hey Stephanie come on over here. I notice you have a really big sweet tooth. Have you ever thought of choosing Extra Fruit Sensations Sweet Tropical gum to get rid of that craving? It's only five calories and studies have shown that when you chew gum you are less likely to indulge in your cravings! That's why in the Biggest Loser house we ALWAYS have a bowl filled with Extra sugar free five calorie gum." So funny! Well I'm totally going to advertise for Costco right now. They have a wonderful cookbook called Favorite Recipes The Costco Way. I borrowed it from my mom and we absolutely love the recipes. Of course they put in there that you are supposed to buy the Costco brand of stuff but we are Wal-Mart grocery shoppers and it works. We don't have enough peeps in our fam yet to buy Costco bulk. So this past week was Costco recipe week. There was one unfortunate recipe that was gross which I won't list but the rest were ones we will definitely repeat.
Tilapia Parmesan:

Breakfast Tacos:

Chicken and Pineapple Pizza:

Cheesy Stuffed Peppers:
Southwest Potatoes and Chicken:

The following recipe is from Safeway's website. I looked under the recipes that you can make in less then thirty minutes.
Cajun Chicken Pasta: So Delicious!!! We highly recommend it! It seriously tastes like something from Olive Garden and it only takes 30 minutes to make! It looks like a ton of ingredients but most are spices.

Ingredients 4 ounces linguine pasta 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, sliced into thin strips 2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning 2 tablespoons butter 1 green bell pepper, chopped 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped 4 fresh mushrooms, sliced 1 green onion, minced 1 1/2 cups heavy cream 1/4 teaspoon dried basil 1/4 teaspoon lemon pepper 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Directions Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add linguini pasta, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, or until al dente; drain. Meanwhile, place chicken and Cajun seasoning in a bowl, and toss to coat. In a large skillet over medium heat, saute chicken in butter until no longer pink and juices run clear, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add green and red bell peppers, sliced mushrooms and green onions; cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce heat, and stir in heavy cream. Season the sauce with basil, lemon pepper, salt, garlic powder and ground black pepper, and heat through. In a large bowl, toss linguini with sauce. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese.

But I’m Supposed to be a Teacher

I had a premonition I was going to be sick this week. Everyone around me has been getting sick, kids at school, my mIL, and nephew. So today while driving to work I was thinking to myself "If I think sick, I'm going to get sick. So I need to think positive. I can't get sick on race week!" Well first kid to get off the bus is pale, quiet, won't eat his breakfast when we get into class, and I can feel him burning up through his t-shirt. So I call his momma and while she's on her way, he falls asleep in the library area for like an hour. Poor little guy. So I'm thinking "Oh crap! Can't get sick, it's race week!" But turns out I get sick in a way I did not expect. One of our little girls has to be catheterized and today was the first time the nurse came in to do it. The nurse explains to me that someone has to be in the bathroom with her when she does it. So I go in there thinking nothing of it. Well we get her up on the changing table and I'm having to hold her legs open and the nurse is sitting there saying "I don't see the urethral opening?! See look! Here is the vaginal opening, here is the clitoris. It should be around here somewhere." All while she's moving this tube around there in that area. So I start to feel really hot and lightheaded. I'm thinking "Okay I'm fine, it will be over soon." Then the nurse pulls out her cell phone to call her boss to tell her "I can't find the urethral opening!" And by now I just knew if I didn't sit down I was going to faint. So I open the bathroom door into the classroom and one of the other teachers Carol is like "Sit down!" So I sit on the little kid couch. And then Carol tells me "No, you need to lay down!" So I'm laying on the carpet with all these little three and four year olds staring at me wondering what their teacher is doing lying on the ground. I was pretty embarrassed. I mean the little girl who is getting catheterized was completely fine and I'm the one hyperventilating and almost fainting. At one point I thought of being a physical therapist for kids with disabilities but then reality hit that I can't stomach anything hospital related. That's why I wanted to be a teacher! But I guess I still am going to have to deal with some blood and yucky stuff. I don't get it though, I spent 6 months in Ecuador wiping kids' butts with my bare hand and had no problem, but I can't even look at a little tube being put up a little hole! I don't know how I'm going to be a mom. I'm sure it's worse when it's your own kids you are watchingL

Let’s Go Fly a Kite

When we were dating Thomas and I went to Sarg Hubbard park and flew some dollar store kites. So when the new dollar store opened up around my parents house we went in and took a look and saw the same kite we had used last year. So we bought them and one day after work when it was super windy we went to the same park to give them a whirl . Thomas put together the first one in the car cause it was too windy to do it outside.

He was going to put them both together but we noticed the jipped us on the sticks and there were only enough for one kite! As soon as I stepped out of the car with the kite it broke!

So we took the sticks from that kite and put it on the other kite. That kite made it about 2 minutes outside till it broke. Moral of the story: Invest in a better kite than one from the dollar store. We want to get a really nice one someday. But we still had a fun time and made a memory.

Kite #2

And Kite #2 goes in the dumpster L

So we just took a walk around the pond J

Run, Run, Run I like to run

Remember that primary song? Sing, sing, sing, I like to sing! I like to sing a lot, sing, sing, sing! That was the inspiration for the title of the post if you didn't catch it. Lol.

I can't even remember the last time I posted my running schedule so here is this past weeks:

Monday: I had borrowed my sisters Dallas Cowboy's Cheerleader workout video but it was scratched so I ended up doing my own Jillian like moves. I was actually pretty sore the next day!
Tuesday: 6 mile tempo run on the rez. Soooo windy. We could barely hear each other talk.
Wednesday: Jillian's 30 day shred
Thursday: 6x800 at about 3:30 each
Friday: rest
Saturday: 8 mile long run (Last one before the race!)
So my body is totally falling apart. Right knee hurts, both hips, and left calf. I know I'm not that old. But it's gonna be so worth it! Under 2 hours next weekend!

Getting to Know ME!

1. What color do you wear the most? Lately it has been pink.  Just went to Wet Seal last week and they had layering shirts and tanks for 3 for $15 and then their clearance was buy one get one for 1cent! So a few of those tops were pink.  I guess subconsciously I was wanting to brighten things up for springtime.

2. Would you rather have $10,000 dollars or a dream vacation? $10,000 for sure!

3. Do you have a weird, quirky or unusual habit? So I'm sitting here with my mom and hubby and they mentioned a few: My mom said "You run a lot. And you talk in your sleep."  My hubby says I sometimes pee the bed.  (Okay I did once like a couple months ago.  I don't know why!)

4. I really need to start..........? Drinking more water (although this would seem contradictory to my statement about peeing the bed).

5. What was the first blog you ever read? The first blog I ever remember reading was Just Another Day (in our midwest) Paradise.

6. Do you collect anything? No, it kind of bugs me when people do cause usually it's junk that never even gets used or looked at.

7. How old were you when you had your first kiss? Seventeen

8. Do you text/twitter while driving? I will text when I am stopped at a stoplight.

My name is Lindsey and I am a scheduler

So I would totally love to have a blog schedule. I know I love reading blogs that are super organized, with certain topics blogged about on certain days. So here is my ideal blog schedule, although it will probably have to wait until we have consistant internet.
Monday- Running/Training update
Wednesday- Meal Plan
Friday- Humorous work stories
Sunday- Getting to Know You Sunday
Soon I hope to be able to offer my few and faithful followers a steady routine. Don't you just love routine!? It makes me feel so secure and in control I love it. I love my planner. I love having the dinner schedule for the week posted on the fridge. I love having my running schedule written in my planner AND posted on the fridge. I love writing things down in my planner just so I can check them off when they are done (even if I've already done themJ). I get really anxious and kind of cranky when my plans are disrupted or there is a big change in my routine.
We have a big change coming up in the near future that I'm really excited about but I also know that the closer it gets the more anxious I will be. We are going to be moving to Rexburg in July so I can finish school. This past week when I went down to visit my lil' sis, I went to the advising center to get my class schedule figured out (see I love to schedule things!). I am so close to being done! I have two semesters of classes and then one semester of student teaching. Crazy! This time next year I'll be who knows where taking over a class of 25 little ones! I'm excited as you can see by all the exclamation marks. Also nervous. Even just being on campus again when I went to schedule my classes with the advising center made me anxious.
Things that make me anxious … finding a new place to live (we are currently in the process of filling out applications) and finding jobs (I hope to work on campus and Thomas is looking for openings for an x-ray tech). Things that make me sad… leaving our families and friends. I am especially sad to leave my running buddy Haley. She's been the greatest running partner anyone could ask for. She totally pushes me beyond what I could even try to push myself, she's great to talk with, vent with, gossip with, and just an overall awesome girl! I just really doubt I'll ever find a running partner like her again L But I totally plan on scheduling a run with her whenever we come back to visit so I can see how in or out of shape I've gotten.